Shipping container homes are taking the architecture world by storm and naturally they have fierce supporters on one side, and naysayers on the other. The Australia-based company Nova Deko Modular has recently unveiled a new line of modular homes, which were inspired by shipping container architecture. The units they offer vary in size, while all are based on a standard 40-foot shipping container. In this way, they have been able to take advantage of the best things offered by cargotecture, while leaving behind much of the negative.

Studiomobile, an Italian design firm, has joined forces with Stefano Mancuso, a professor at the University of Florence and the director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology, in an effort to create a prototype floating greenhouse. The main aim of the project is improving food security for people living in areas with little arable land, though the usefulness of this greenhouse goes much farther.

Güte, a Canadian home builder recently unveiled a unique tiny home, the design of which was inspired by shepherds’ huts of the past. Their creation is a prefabricated hut that rests on a trailer and can be used as a tiny home, office space, or guest room. It has the option to connect it to a power source, but it can also function off-the-grid, exactly like the shepherd’s huts of old did.

For towns and cities in coastal areas, harvesting wave energy makes a lot of sense. The company Albatern from Scotland recently came out with a unique solution for easy and affordable way to do just that. The so-called WaveNET is a modular and scalable array of floating generator units. These units, also referred to as “Squids”, are capable of harvesting wave energy via their buoyant arms that can follow the motion of the waves very precisely.

The Dutch firm 2by4 Architects recently launched a line of unique tiny prefab homes, which can serve a variety of purposes, such as a vacation home, office guest room and more. They can also be taken off the grid, and could actually be used for a permanent residence too.

Living small requires that every piece of furniture performs it’s own function, as well as some extra one’s besides. Storage is usually the biggest problem, and the Spanish firm PKMN Architectures came up with a unique way to solve this obstacle during the renovation of a small villa in Madrid, Spain. To do so, they designed a series of innovative modular units, which are easily movable and thereby capable of creating entirely flexible living and workspaces.(more…)